Tanglewood 2025

By Dave Read, July 25, 2025 performance – There was a broad breadth of music on offer at Tanglewood tonight, extending from the seventeenth/eightteenth century Johann Sebastian Bach, through nineteenth century Felix Mendelssohn, to the nineteenth/twentieth century Gustav Mahler. It was a beautiful survey, under the leadership of music director Andris Nelsons, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with violin soloist Maria Duenas.

Brief as it was, one almost feels relief listening to an air by Bach, as if, since still we know how to please ourselves, soon enough we’ll remember how to govern ourselves. For many Shed veterans, listening to Bach reminds of a time when politicians spoke in complete sentences, respected the rule of law, and the separation of powers. The sprightliness of the Bach was followed by the substance of the Mahler. There’s an economy to Bach, with a small range of sounds in repetition; in Mahler, there’s a broad survey of sounds, many of which are full of nuance.

The performance of Mendelssohn’s concerto by Ms. Duenas, besides being of the utmost artistic merit, was also an impressive physical accomplishment, since it required her to play, practically non-stop, for half an hour! Her playing, which seemed somewhat quiet at the opening, was dazzling and the piece was an exciting duet between orchestra and violin. It was delightful to read in the program notes that Mendelssohn sought to knit the concerto’s movements together seamlessly enough to preclude unwanted inter-movement applause. It mentions a protracted oboe note meant to bridge the first two movements.

Premature applause by the Tanglewood audience has always been a source of amusement – it seems to lessen as the season progresses, which re-enforces my faith in my fellow music consumer; it’s usually less evident the more obscure and soloist-free the program. Since composers were bothered enough by unwanted mid-performance applause to seek its mitigation in the composition, perhaps the BSO would append an applause admonition to their pre-concert spiel about “the unlikely event of inclement weather…?”

By Dave Read, July 20, 2025 performance – Energy can be released in an explosive, spectacular fashion, and it can be released in a stalwart, rhythmic manner. Tonight, the Tanglewood audience saw both as pianist Yuja Wang performed the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of music director Andris Nelsons.

Ms. Wang bounded onto the stage in a sparkling, skimpy, silver costume while Maestro Nelsons strode to the podium in black slacks and black short sleeve shirt, looking like a priest without the roman collar. In appearance, the two principles for tonight’s program in the Koussevitsky Music Shed, were opposites.

In performance, they united to produce a spectacular and thrilling performance of the piece that the composer himself premiered in Paris in 1924, under the direction of Serge Koussevitsky. The first quarter of the 20th century was every bit as culturally tumultuous as today is; with artists in all disciplines being pulled into and kicked out of real and imagined “schools.” Fauvism, Dada, cubism, surrealism…

And a fake ethos of “social realism” was being imposed on Prokofiev’s Russia, which resembles the sort of state-mandated mannerism that burdens arts and entertainment in America today. Politicians wield purse strings to make grant-dependent artists and arts organizations dance to tunes of their own tin-eared design and composition.

But artists of the stature of Prokofiev, Koussevitsk, Nelsons, the BSO, and Wang operate at a level secure from the prying paws of politicians. Early 20th century music is made brand new again one hundred years later and 3,500 miles to the west, even as our safety net is being dismantled systematically by artless actors enabled by an art-starved electorate.

After intermission, the orchestra performed the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique. Some two-thirds of the was through a beautiful, engrossing performance, we noticed Tanglewood personnel talking into their palms, the way Secret Service agents do. Their mission was to hurry lawn patrons to the safety of the Shed, because big rain was on the way. An unfortunate finale for an afternoon of brilliant performance in the Berkshires, where mother nature has been good to us all summer.

By Dave Read, July 19, 2025 performance – Tonight’s performance of an opera in three acts, Tosca, by Giacomo Puccini, was as riveting and satisfying an experience as I’ve ever had at a concert. It was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and leading vocalists from the world of opera, under the direction of music director Andris Nelsons, with James Burton conducting the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (TFC) and students from Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute (BUTI).

Whether it’s a genetic flaw or environmental damage, I don’t know, but the “drama” at the core of opera, movies, and TV shows never has been of more than secondary interest to me. When I do attend (or view on screen), I’m in for the spectacle, for the sights and sounds. Whatever literal sense the story means to convey is OK with me, so long as it delights the eyes and ears. That tonight’s was a rare treat for the audience is underscored by the fact that tonight was only the second performance in the orchestra’s 144 year history!

The principle operatic roles were played by soprano Kristine Opolais as Tosca, baritone Bryn Terfel as Scarpia, and tenor SoekJong Baek as Cavaradossi. Even though I couldn’t help but follow along with the supertitles, for all intents and purposes, I had no idea what these artists were so exercised about, but I believed every perfectly sounded syllable they produced. Even though I knew Scarpia was the bad guy, he sounded exactly like the kind of guy you want running the country.

As electrifying as was the finale of the opera, I was nearly overwhelmed by the final several minutes of Act 1, which included the TFC and BUTI, who had seemingly infiltrated the orchestra. Whether or not joy is an apt description for the action on stage as Act 1 draws to a close, the combination of the vocal soloists, the chorus, and the orchestra produced as joyful a noise as can be imagined. Or at least a sufficient amount to tide us over until we have our annual season finale of Beethoven’s Ninth next month!